I understood the meaning of ineffable when I first saw Crater Lake. The blue was so brilliant it took my breath away. Even now I stuggle to describe the beauty of this lake captured within the caldera of a long extinct volcano.
My husband and I were visiting our daughter and future son-in-law in Portland, Oregon and decided to head south mid-week while they worked. We’d rented a small house fifty miles outside the park entrance but decided to stop enroute for a glimpse of the park. We entered the main park entrance and were disappointed to drive for twenty miles past acres and acres of charred, dead trees. Then the landscape turned dry, scrubby and wasted.
I hadn’t done much research on Crater Lake. After all, it was a National Park and a new park for us in our quest to visit all sixty three. With National Park status, if not awe inspiring, I at least assumed it would be unique. So far the twenty miles of dead trees and hard dry ground we’d passed was disappointing.
It was 4 o’clock and the midafternoon sun was still high in the sky. Ahead was a pair of what looked like mud mounds with a sign that said ‘viewpoint’. So we parked the jeep, and walked uphill on a gray dirt trail that ascended the non descript mound. As we crested the top, and looked down, I caught my breathe. This is what ineffable meant.
A lake of the deepest emerald blue I’d ever seen lay below us totally encircled by gravelly slopes, some vegetated, some not, with small pockets of snow nestled at the base. The lake is captured within the collapsed caldera of an ancient volcano, Mt. Mazama that erupted over 7700 years ago. Rain collected in the 4000 ft deep crater over thousands of years forming the lake and with no inlets or outlets, the water is perfectly clear. With the sun at just the right angle, the still surface of the lake acts like a mirror reflecting the blue of the late afternoon sky. Ineffable… In the midst of the lake is a larger island and a few jutting rocks.
Over the next few days, we hiked both up and down to appreciate this amazing lake from multiple perspectives. Our first morning, we hiked Garfield Peak Trail, a 3.5 mile up and back hike that traversed a nearby mountain overlooking the lake. The morning was comfortable, sunny and clear, perfect hiking weather. We parked near the Crater Lake Lodge, easily found the trailhead and immediately began ascending. Once we cleared the trees, the view was spectacular, getting better and better with each heart pumping step upward. We followed the ridgeline above the lake, a welcomed stretch of flat trail, before ascending to the 8060 ft summit of Garfield Peak.
Hearts still pounding, we found a smooth boulder to make a modest picnic, snacking while admiring the view below us. From our lofty perch, we could see Wizard Island, a cinder cone formed from a series of eruptions that continued to occur hundreds of years after the collapse of the caldera. At 2700 ft above the lake’s surface, Wizard is only one of two cones high enough to break the surface. There are other cones on the floor of the crater but still hundreds of feet below the surface of the lake.
Phantom Ship, is the second visible island, aptly named because of its resemblance to a ghostly ship with tall masts and ragged sails. It is the remnant of a volacanic cone that was engulfed in the erupting Mazama volcano but survived the collapse of the crater. These jagged spires are the oldest rocks in the Crater Lake basin at over 400,000 years old.
The next morning we hiked the Cleetwood Cove Trail, a wide shaded trail that switchbacked 600 ft down the caldera through a pine forest to the lake. The hike down was tough on the knees but easy on the heart, allowing us to enjoy the tranquility of the forest and spot the occasional squirrel, chipmunk or bird.
We had hoped to take a park service boat out on the lake; given the clarity of the water, it was possible to see hundreds of feet down to the cones that were not visible from the surface. Unfortunately, a ranger explained that the boat tours were still not running this season; new boats were on order but delivery was delayed – once they arrived they would need to be lowered via helicopter to the lake’s surface. We got excited when we say a boat cruising on the lake until we discovered that it was a park service employee training session.
So in lieu of a boat tour, we took off our boots and soaked our tired feet in the cold lake water. There was a small light station with a concrete apron about 20 feet above the lake. We watched as people took turns jumping off the edge into the deep blue water.
The climb back up the trail would be more strenuous than the hike down, so we refueled with granola bars and lots of water. Our crumbs soon attracted a following, as chipmunks edged closer and closer hoping to snatch a morsel. Finally, one brave rodent scurried close, grabbed a crumb and then perched on a rock distant enough to safely eat his spoils.
I never pass a chance to see waterfalls so our last afternoon in Crater Lake, we hiked to Plaikni Falls. This was an easy, relatively flat two mile in and out trail that ended at a small waterfall cascading down a rocky ledge. The hiking path meanders through old growth forest but then closely follows the Sand Creek so in addition to the tranquil serenade of rushing water, we were treated to intermittent patches of colorful wild flowers. With only a slight increase in elevation right before the falls, we enjoyed a much appreciated break for our knees and cardio system plus we had the trail and falls all to ourselves. This was a great way to end our visit to Crater Lake National Park.
I discovered the meaning of ineffable at Crater Lake. I now aspire to continue to seek out the ineffable as I explore this wonderful natural world. Crater Lake has certainly set the bar high!!!
July, 2023